Nicholas Abbott, the British ambassador to our country, stated that Albanians are not being banned from going to the United Kingdom, but the authorities want them to go there legally.
“I think we have clear criteria. In fact, illegal immigration to the United Kingdom is a very sensitive issue and we are seeing politically that this is becoming something that both the government and the opposition parties are extremely focused on. Therefore, it needs to be managed very carefully and there are a very large number of Albanians who go to the United Kingdom legally with a visa, they can go for tourism, sometimes they can go for work, even though it is limited, but it exists. I am not saying that it is easy to do, because it is not, and I know that there is a cost involved here, but we are not trying to stop Albanians from going to the United Kingdom. That is not the case. We want them to do this, but legally. But our challenge is those who go illegally. And these are often working in illegal activities”, said the ambassador.
“So we have to be careful. We look at these things very regularly and as you can imagine this is a topic of discussion for me as well. But I want to explain the sensitivity that exists in the UK on this issue and I know that some feel that we are unfairly targeting Albanians. After all, there are a large number of Albanians compared to other nationalities who are involved in aspects that they should not be doing,” the ambassador added.
According to him, “there are people who go to the United Kingdom and unfortunately they don’t have the financial resources to do so or maybe they don’t have the relationships with people in the United Kingdom.”
“Or maybe they don’t give the real reasons why they’re going there. So, we’re looking at these things very closely, but this is not done with the intention of targeting any particular population,” the ambassador said.